Tuesday, January 6, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! This year aims to be a great year for beer - I'm going to brew my second ever beer this month, more about that later. The holiday ale sampling went great - I tried as many as I could get my lips to, but there are so many! I still have one or two, so it's not over yet! I'm trying to catch up with myself, so the next few posts will be beers I sampled last year - but didn't get the chance to publish.

We took a short trip to San Francisco and, upon arriving, promptly found the Magnolia Pub and Brewery on Haight Street. It's a great little pub and brewery - good food - good beer and great people watching. I highly recommend it!

I had two beers here - the previously blogged Winter Warmer and this one, the Proving Ground IPA, which was on cask.

It pours a glowing amber with a big foamy head.

The aroma is like 100% flowery hop goodness!

The taste is smooth, very smooth with a full body. The bitterness is balanced by the fact that it is on cask, which tends to mellow the taste, a bit. It is a great sipper - I suggest a second or third beer, as it tends to dominate the palate.

The aftertaste is mild bitterness with a lot of hop floral.

It is 7.1% with 100 IBU's - so it's not for those who don't enjoy the hop!